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Your Portfolio

There is a point in requiring you to read books, write papers, and read the blog. I would suggest a major part of your college experience is the completion of something that will never appear on your transcript-your portfolio of completed projects.  By the way no one ever looked at my transcript other than to see that it was genuine. 

Your degree will get you in a room, with other college grads that will have, no surprise, similar degrees. Yet 99% of you have only prepared to that point, okay now what. What will you say do write produce to differentiate yourself from everyone else. 

Hence reading one book for all your classes, and planning to use the same book in the future does you little good. You will run out of book topics rather fast, and what if that is of no interest to the person interviewing you?  Writing well is a huge issue. You should be able to produce a binder of well written reports complete with graphs and tables to reflect your analytic ability. You should certainly be able to converse intelligently about the business world, hello blog. It is most interesting that the  most frequent comments revolve around shopping at Goodwill. As you can see there are next to no responses on the markets blog……What does that tell you about how well your education to date has prepared you to discuss markets?  Trust me there is a world of What they Don't Teach You in the MBA Program on the markets blog.  

All of you will be exiting into the very worst job market in your lifetimes, really. Unemployment is near 10% nationally, well outside the DC beltway. Competition will be ferocious. Let's get ready…

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2 responses to “Your Portfolio”

  1. Tina C Avatar
    Tina C

    I just returned from a whirlwind business trip to Dallas for my company’s annual meeting. For those of you not out in the job market (in your desired profession) yet, “be prepared” is very good advice. This company set out 5 years ago to double in size and revenue, they did. They plan to repeat in the next 5 years. While other firms are laying off or not offering full time postions to interns, this company is hiring and giving pay increases and manged to end its fiscal year with a nice positive bottom line.
    At the annual meeting this morning, there were some quotes from the former CEO of GE (I had been planning on visiting the GE website anyway), reference to a book (which I jotted the name down for my next book report) along with other references, visions and plans. Every one from interns to partners were mingling and talking (350 of us, soon to be 400 with the fall interns and new hires). It was like a constant test of knowledge, skill, tact and networking ability. A pop test where you do not know who might ask what question of you! It was enjoyable watching those who did well and almost painful watching those that fumbled. The partners were also noticing who mingled and who hung back in their comfort zone.
    I’ve also recently had the opportunity to visit with intern prospects from several different colleges both in Texas and from neighboring states. Only so many will be offered positions. Grades matter, references matter but being able to “talk the talk” and represent yourself with poise and self-confidence about your area of study goes much further than you could imagine.
    No matter what your field, communication (written, not texting, and oral communication), networking, knowing what is going on in the world around you could possibly make the difference in who gets the job and who doesn’t.
    Just something to think about…

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  2. Dennis Elam Avatar
    Dennis Elam

    Tina
    thank you for making my point is a spot on manner. I believe your input is so important I am going to put it as a post to make sure everyone sees it.

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